Ga:Rei Zero : Tokusen 4
by ijuintekka
Summary: This story focuses on Ga-Rei Zero's one-shot heroes, Tokusen 4. I'm hoping to make it exciting as well as a little sappy. Enjoy, and please be kind as it is my first effort at publishing such a work. 喰霊-零- 特戦四課 トオル ナツキ
1. Chapter 1

喰霊-零- 特戦四課 トオル ナツキ

**Ga-Rei Zero : Tokusen 4**

The peaceful night time of Tokyo bay docks was shattered by the thundering crashes of dislodged brick and the ear raking crunch of metal being crushed. People ran for their lives as a warehouse jolted and shuddered as if something was trying to tear it apart from the inside.

The incessant whipping of helicopter blades threw dust into the air and whipped ripples into the nearby calm waters. A behemoth troop transport set itself down just a few feet from the warehouse, challenging whatever was thundering around inside to oppose it.

With no hesitation and just a mere fraction of a second after the wheels of the sturdy craft had touched down, a stream of black armoured figures disembarked, orderly and efficient. Each one cradling a dangerous looking machine gun in their hands.

One of the figures stepped forward from the line of soldiers, his face harsh and determined, over one eye an orange, thin-film plate let off a slight glow in the moonlight.

"All forces, surround the building!" The man barked, and the line of men behind him sprang into motion, taking positions surrounding the quaking building.

"Tokusen One to operations centre," the man began talking into a microphone attached to his helmet, "target located in grid thirty four and identified as a Catergory B. We will now engage."

"Operations centre, acknowledged." A tinny reply sounded through the leader's helmet.

"Seekers, on!" The lead man barked again, and each soldier in turn raised his off hand to the side of their helmet to bring down identical orange plates to their leader. Then, they waited...

The clamouring sound of destruction intensified inside the building, and rose to an almighty crescendo as the structure finally gave way. As the dust of the collapsing material settled each man saw an eerie green outline spread across the opaque orange surface of their visor, the outline of an enormous lizard.

"Commence the attack!" The lead soldier's voice rang strong, not a hint of fear at the spectacle before him leaked into his orders. It wasn't the first time after all, to him this was just another day on the job.

A hail of of bullets barraged the outline of the lizard which had finally freed itself from its bonds of stone and metal, and it roared in protest, pushed from side to side with the force of each blow.

The lead man observed the work of his subordinates as they mercilessly hammered the creature with their attack. Looking back toward the city he noticed the perimeter established by his men was thinner on that side, perhaps the most important side, that couldn't be allowed.

"Box it in! Don't give it an open path!"

The creature was quick to capitalize on the weakness, for it, this was a matter of survival. The only thing it cared about was getting away so it could feast on the fleshy bodies of the dead and the living, it was a Kasha and that was its purpose, to eat and to never stop.

The creature howled in rage once again and flung itself against the unnatural force of the tiny objects striking it. The line of humans defending that perimeter scattered as the green outline of the enormous invisible thing grew closer in their left eyes. Some of them made it away, others weren't so fortunate, and their comrades watched in utter horror as the men were crushed beneath the glow of the invisible creature's outline.

That break in the human line was all the Kasha needed, it drew itself back up, some pieces of the squashed humans sticking to its invisible body like dismembered insects. The Kasha threw itself forward again curling its bulk into a rolling ellipse flattening everything in its path.

The soldiers watched helplessly as the outline of the creature fled further away and eventually faded completely from the range of their visor.

The lead soldier gripped the stalk of his microphone angrily. "This is Tokusen One to operations centre, the category B apparition has fled west on one zero four, heading toward the expressway and the population centre. Requesting immediate dispatch of a high speed mobile combat unit."

"Operations centre, acknowledged." the tinny reply came once again, "Good job softening it up, Tokusen One. Tokusen Four will take it from here."

-

On the other side of the city, a man sat at a nightclub table, a single cup of coffee nursed in his hands. He didn't particularly like the nasty substance, but it had become a force of habit pushed on him by his friends, there wasn't much else he could drink especially in his line of work.

The thrum of background music made things a little more bearable, for the man and the people who were waiting for the night's entertainment to start, and it was almost time for things to begin.

"Ah, Toru!" A chirpy voiced called from the man's blind spot.

The man, Toru, looked over his shoulder to greet the waitress that was approaching him with a menu.

"Ah, good evening." Toru replied, smiling awkwardly at her.

"Dressed in that coat again?" She asked referring to the long black coat he was wearing, hiding whatever clothes he had on underneath. "If you keep wearing that thing people are going to start thinking you're odd." She lectured him, her finger wagging absent mindedly out of habit, often the sign of someone that spent a lot of time with children.

"Who knows what they might think if I take it off..." Toru sighed, "It's best if it stays put."

"I guess you won't be needing this then?" The waitress asked referring to the menu, "You never do, do you?"

"Give me a break." Toru pinched the bridge of his nose with frustration. "You know I can't drink anything, and you know why I'm here."

"Ah, watching Natsuki's performance again?" She smiled at him knowingly. "You're so diligent Mr. Kanze, no wonder she's fallen for you."

Toru flustered a little at the insinuation and fixed her with a hard stare, willing her to close her mouth and leave him alone, sadly to no avail.

"Oh you're so cute, getting so embarrassed Toru." She slapped him on the back and jolted a little of the coffee out of his cup and onto the table. "But what would Aoi say if she knew? Oh she'd be so jealous."

"Leave me alone!" Toru demanded.

The waitress giggled and dropped the menu onto his table. "Well it's about to start so I guess I'd better get out of your sight. I don't want to be standing in the way when your eyes meet across the floor."

"Stop it..." Toru pleaded one more time, now finding it harder than ever to hide his embarrassment.

The waitress curtseyed, mocking him, and flashed a devious smile at him. "You're so lucky having the two of them dote on you the way they do. I don't know how you're ever going to make a choice."

Toru placed the cup of coffee on the table and buried his head in his hands, pleading for some miracle to make her stop teasing him.

"I'll see you later Mr. Kanze, don't stare at her too hard or she might forget her lyrics."

"Why you..." He flattened his head against the table this time as the waitress twirled and skipped away, happy that she had done a good job of making his night as awkward as possible.

The club's lights dimmed as if on cue, and the lights on the stage brightened illuminating the musicians that had been setting up there. Toru raised his head to watch, his eyes shifting from figure to figure looking for one in particular.

Despite his embarrassment at being called on it, he was here to watch Natsuki that much was true. It wasn't intentional, at least not at first, the two of them always had to be close to one another, that was the nature of their job. But recently it hadn't mattered that it was because of work, here was here now because he wanted to see her. He looked forward to these weekends, and he looked forward to seeing her. His friends were right however, eventually he was going to have to make a choice. But now wasn't the time to worry about that, right now they were all happy and that was what was most important to him.

Toru spotted Natsuki in the shadows of the stage, standing with her back to the microphone, the rest of the band standing ready with their instruments each of them waiting for their cue. Toru perked up instantly and forgot all about the teasing he had just endured and focused his gaze on her just as she predicted he would, but he didn't care.

One by one each musician lovingly guided their instruments into the beginnings of their opening song. This is what Toru had been waiting for all night, the lighting on the stage changed and the crowd hushed as Natsuki and her band finally came into view.

As always, her long hair was a perfect cascade of black silk down her back, but the clothing was a little unusual, that wasn't uncommon for her, but this was particularly unexpected.

Underneath his black coat, Toru was wearing the same thing, almost. The gaudy orange jumpsuit with the number four emblazoned on the left shoulder, which served as their uniform, was the last thing Toru had expected to see her wearing here of all places. Natsuki's version of the jumpsuit was a little different, the chest was white and the legs were cut short exposing her thighs and and stockings that wrapped tightly around her slender legs.

The music began to grow more lively and Natsuki's leg began move in time with the music. Toru couldn't help but admire her decision, only she could make that awful form fitting uniform into something amazing. As the intensity of the music reached its peak, Natsuki span and grasped the microphone stand, pulling it toward herself, both her eyes closed and her lips parted, letting the incredible strength of her voice ring out to the very back of the spacious venue.

Natsuki's eyes opened, her stare locking straight to Toru, leaving him frozen like an animal dazzled by the glare of headlights. The vibrant mauve coronas around her pupils were as intoxicating as the power of voice that reached out to every soul in the packed nightclub.

Locked in place by this sweet poison, Toru couldn't help but wonder; if he had to choose right now, could there be any doubt at all in his mind?

The music was wonderful of course, each member of the band played their part but for Toru, the evening was spent mesmerized by the strength of Natsuki's voice.

Like all good things, it didn't last.

A chime from inside the Toru's heavy coat shook him from his trance, and he stood from the table. Natsuki's expression on stage visibly changed and she seemed prepared and resigned to whatever Toru's sudden movement meant. Nodding to Natsuki, Toru turned and left the performance, stepping outside into an alleyway in the grasp of a cold winter.

It was only a matter of mere moments before Natsuki joined him in the alleyway.

"How did they take it?" Toru asked her, in reference to her sudden departure.

"They'll forgive me." Natsuki replied, a hint of disappointment prevalent in her voice. "It had to be tonight, of all nights."

From one of the pockets on her uniform, Natsuki retrieved a small ear piece, and fixed it into place under hair.

"This is Agent Three Three, reporting in." She spoke, keeping the item pressed to her ear.

"This is the operations centre." The familiar voice of a young girl echoed through the device. "A category B apparition is heading west at speed on one zero four. Tokusen Four is being mobilized to engage the target. Agents Three Three and Seven Seven are ordered to immediately intercept the target."

"Agent Three Three, acknowledged. Heading east on one zero four to intercept the target." Natsuki confirmed with the voice.

"Operations centre, acknowledged." The voice replied once again, then went silent.

"Let's move out." Toru stretched his arms and fingers loosening himself up.

"Yeah." Natsuki nodded to him, smiling.

Leaning against the rear exit of the nightclub was a spotless red and black motorcycle also with the number four emblazoned on its side. Natsuki straddled herself across its seat and retrieved a pair of helmets from storage bins in the rear. She offered one to Toru who waved it away.

"I can see better without it." He explained.

Natsuki frowned at him and put both helmets away.

"Natsuki..." He began to protest that she should at least take care of herself, but he knew better than to continue. If anything were to happen, she didn't want to be the one to come back alone.

Toru joined her on the motorcycle, and secured himself in the rear position, removing the long coat and tossing it to the side outside the nightclub door, reavealing the uniform below and the twin Walther P99s holstered at his back.

"Toru..." Natsuki asked him without turning around. "Tomorrow is another performance, and Tokusen Three is on call... Will you come again?"

"I'm sorry..." Toru bowed his head, even though she couldn't see. "Tomorrow, Aoi is-"

"Aoi is, huh?" Natsuki cut him off, the hint of disappointment in her voice changing to bitterness. "That's okay." She lied.

"Sorry..." Toru apologized, sincerely and regretfully.

Without another word, Natsuki kick started the motorcycle and the two of them embarked together to their destination.


	2. Chapter 2

The greedy Kasha rolled down the main road toward the inner city, knocking cars into the air while flattening street lamps and signposts that dared stand its way.

Bystanders shrieked in terror and dove for cover in the face of this invisible path of destruction. Launching itself briefly into the air, the Kasha unfurled its body and landed heavily on all fours, causing the surrounding ground to tremble from the impact. It sniffed the air and observed the cowering civilians, it had been far too long and it was so hungry. The appetising morsels cowering from its transparent bulk were more than enough to satiate its desire for flesh.

The ground quaked as the Kasha took slow, savouring steps toward its prey, a juicy looking human trembling and scared, hiding behind a rusty white automobile.

With a single swish of it's enormous head, the Kasha batted the car out of its way, causing the human to fall on his behind, and scramble backwards on his hands. The Kasha's mouth hung open in anticipation of its feast, and it craned its neck forward to savour the taste, to savour the kill. It was then a completel shock to the beast as it's head was slammed back by a sudden pelt of energy as two glowing gold bullets struck it in the side of the head.

Even with that brief, momentary distraction the human had managed to get back to his feet and run carrying him out of reach of the Kasha's jaws. The Kasha howled audibly in rage, much to the terror of the people still hiding on the sides of the road. and craned its neck in the direction of the sudden assault.

Toru was now perched dangerously on the back end of the motorcycle, the only thing stopping the sheer speed of the howling machine from throwing him off in any direction was Natsuki's steady hands and expertise in the field.

Toru off another shot from his twin walthers, and the golden scripture laden, nine-millimetre cylinders slammed satisfyingly into what passed for the creature's nose. There was no tell-tale green outline this time, and no visored helmets covering the eyes of either of them. They could see the creature as it really was, the sleek black shine of its scales and the red veins that bulged from under its armour plated body, and last of all the white hot jets flame that extended from the middle of its body, like searing wings that threatened to carry the beast into the sky at any time.

The ability to see so clearly, the creatures they were fighting was what made the fourth division so special, and so effective.

The creature shook off the unexpected pain of the second shot and lumbered at full pace toward the screaming motorcycle, lunging its head out to sink its teeth into the tiny people riding on it. Natsuki veered to the side and passed it in a semi-circle, Toru hammering it with several more shots his pistols as they passed by. The Kasha howled again, its frustration rising to match its hunger, but it's bulk made it slow and it was no match to keep up with the human's machine.

Toru slipped a pair of replacement clips into his dual walthers, and steadied himself as Natsuki turned sharply to bear back toward the Kasha, its tail swishing as it reared from the stinging pain of the scripture burning into its head and side. The Kasha looked around for something to take the pain away, something to eat, anything to rid it of the pain burning beneath its scales. And began tentative steps back toward the side of the road, looking for a human body to devour.

"Kudou isn't going to make it in time!" Natsuki said, revving the engine for a charge back toward the beast.

"We'll take it out ourselves, take us over the top." Toru replied, though he didn't really need to say it. Natsuki knew exactly what the procedure was, they'd done it together so many times already, it had become almost like a game. But these creatures were unpredictable at best, it was a game that could quickly turn sour with a momentary lapse of concentration.

Rubber screeched against concrete as the bike took off again toward the lumbering, hungry beast. Toru opened fire on the back of the creature, causing it shudder briefly and freeze as it dealt with the new points of burning burrowing into its skin. But the bike didn't stop there, Natsuki led it right up and over the tip of its tail.

Natsuki's fingers pressed below the handle bars, triggering the machine's electronics. The tyres suddenly shone with the same golden light of the bullets from Toru's twin silver pistols.

The scales on the Kasha's back weakened and shattered as the first tyre passed over them, exposing the pulsing red flesh below. The creature screamed in agony as its protection was torn away, shifting its weight in an attempt to throw the humans off its back, or at least to guide the machine into the flames spouting from its sides. Natsuki's control over the bike was beyond exceptional, and she matched the contortion of the Kasha's body continuing to strip away its scales as she aimed for the thing's head. Toru fired his weapons into the exposed skin, the bullets penetrating further than they could by just breaking through the scales themselves, and finally the scripture on the bike's rear wheel tore at it's flesh sapping its strength and its will to keep on moving.

It was hell for the creature, the bike tearing at it's body and the bullets piercing and shredding its insides. Before the Kasha even had time to consider a different strategy, the duo had already reached its head, the scales quickly being stripped away to expose the soft flesh above its skull. Nobody really knew if the spiritual body of the Kasha posessed a brain, but if it did the quick volley of bullets that expended the clips inside the walther p99s would almost certainly have cut it to ribbons.

With an exasperated cry of defeat, the Kasha's body buckled and fell flat to its belly, the motorcycle's engine screaming as it flew from the creature's head.

Toru plunged the two pistols back into the holsters on his back and leaned forward to grip the motorcycle's body as it hurtled toward the ground. Natsuki's hands tensed around the handlebars, both of them braced themselves as the tyres screeched again as they collided with the road's surface. Natsuki turned the bike and dipped it low, intensifying the screeching as the concrete cut away at the thick rubber.

The bike did slow however, and eventually came to a halt. The two of them putting their legs down to prevent it from toppling over onto its side. Natsuki's chest heaved as the exhilaration of the moment flashed through her mind, from behind her she could feel Toru's own chest pressed into her back, his racing heartbeat thumping soundly into her own body. Both of them stayed like that for what seemed like an age, their bodies pressed firmly together, their minds filled with nothing but the excitement of the moment, and how good it felt to know that they were still alive... together.

For a silent moment on that moonlit night, it felt like they were the only two people in the world.

The whipping sound of helicopter blades cutting the still air, shook them from their tentative embrace.

"Ah~! I don't believe it, we only get to clean up again?" The voice of a smug sounding young man came through the receivers in Natsuki and Toru's ears, as the tell-tale shape of a V-22 Osprey approached from the navy blue sky.

"Masaki..." Toru said breathlessly, "Sorry, guess we got carried away."

"Good work you two." Another voice came through stronger than the previous one. "We'll dissolve the rest of its body with holy water."

The Osprey banked toward the corpse of the Kasha, hovering into position over it. The water thank loaded into its mid section dispersed a thick stream of clear water onto the immobile water, causing it so steam and fizzle like the water was burning away its body.

"Kiriya and Aoi are on their way you two, we'll start the clean-up when Tokusen One have finished blockading the road." Masaki began talking again. "Any casualties?"

"None." Natsuki replied proudly.

"Good work." The second, older voice congratulated them.

Toru raised his chest from Natsuki's back and sat up straight, watching the holy water do its work on the Kasha's body. Natsuki gripped his hand suddenly, as if he had just stolen something from her that she couldn't bear to part with. Toru reciprocated the gesture and squeezed her hand gently, the two of them forming a grip on each other.

When the cascade of water finally halted, the two of them watched as the creature's spiritual body finally evaporated into nothing.


	3. Chapter 3

"It's Aoi's last night with us, you know?" Masaki turned his head to Toru.

"Yeah." Toru replied absent mindedly.

Toru was sitting on Natsuki's bike, which was parked next to the fourth division's mobile operations centre. Built from the chassis of a medium size flat nose bus, it contained a common area and an office space used for both briefings and operations respectively.

Masaki was waving the sensor bar of an electro magnetic field meter half heartedly through the air. To them it was obvious nothing else was around, since they'd be able to see it without the aid of technology, but the ministry of defence was strict on protocol.

"Ah~, I wonder who the new communications officer will be? I hope she's cute."

Toru snorted slightly with the effort to suppress his laughter and shook his head at Masaki's lop-sided smile.

"She was asking where you were today, since you didn't come to Shinjuku." Masaki continued, "Why don't you go inside and see her, instead of sitting around out here?"

Toru felt a pang of guilt at the suggestion. He should go and see Aoi, after all she was the reason he was here, it had been her that introduced him to Kiriya, making him the sixth member of the small but effective fourth division. But Natsuki was already inside and the two of them together... the two of them together was a bit too much.

"They won't wait forever you know." Masaki said as if he was reading Toru's mind, "Then you really will be out in the cold."

Toru stared blankly at him for a second, hoping that his silence would convey the message to leave the subject be.

"You know me, just trying to help." Masaki shrugged in reply. "Ah!" His eyes widened suddenly and he snapped the sensor bar back inside the main unit. "Gotta go!" And with that he jogged off to the other side of blockaded area, where the older man, with the sleeves of his orange jumpsuit rolled up, was still dutifully searching the area with his own EMF meter.

Toru turned his head to follow Masaki's path, but his eyes were blocked suddenly by a steaming styrofoam cup.

"Aoi..." Toru said unconsciously, instinctively reaching to take the offering.

"Good work today." Aoi smiled at him, her voice soft and inviting. She was a gentle looking woman, not as physically gifted as Natsuki, but tall, slender and fragile looking, the kind of woman that carried herself with a quiet natural grace.

Her hair, just below shoulder length, was tied into a single tail and draped over one shoulder. She wore the same orange and white uniform that adorned Natsuki, though it seemed to fit a little looser.

"What are you doing out here?" Toru asked before taking a swig of the piping hot coffee, the warmth of the bitter substance spreading quickly through his chest.

Aoi closed her eyes and took a sip from her own cup. "It's cold in there."

Toru took a glance at the operations center idling near the tail end of the Osprey. He knew all too well what Aoi meant by that remark and it hurt him a little that the two of them were still like this after all the time they had spent as a team. That was all coming to an end tonight, and Toru couldn't help but wonder if this strained relationship was somehow responsible for Aoi leaving the team.

"I was going to ask you tomorrow, but since Tokusen three takes over in just a few hours, are you free after that?" Aoi asked.

"Yeah." Toru replied, letting the steam from the cup warm the underside of his neck.

"There are some things at headquarters in Shinjuku that I need. If you're free, and I'm not imposing, could you help me move them back to my apartment?"

The hopeful tone of the question that Aoi posed so innocently, was not enough to mask the motive behind it. After tonight they probably wouldn't get a chance to see each other very often, and given their history together, she knew all too well that Toru couldn't refuse.

Toru watched her face glisten in the steam from the styrofoam mug she held clasped in both hands. How often he had seen that face growing up, she was a little older than him and had always been something of a sister figure, but recently those feelings had started to change in a way he would never have considered.

Though they didn't work together very often, Toru always looked forward to hearing her voice when orders came in. Having her behind the scenes was comfortably familiar, and it was reassuring to know she would be there to keep them together and informed as a unit. Whomever her replacement was had a lot of expectation to live up to. Of course, Kiriya would be there to keep things together while the replacement found their feet, there wasn't too much to worry about, though it would be lonely without Aoi's voice.

Natsuki was exciting, if a little harsh in her manner, when Toru was with her he felt alive, like life was rushing around him at the speed of one of his own bullets. But Aoi was different, her voice, her familiar face, her comforting presence and the care and attention she lavished on everyone made her special in a way he couldn't deny.

Toru smiled and dipped his head in amusement, then finished the contents of his cup in one swift movement before then turning his head back to Aoi. "There's not much space in my car."

"It's only a few things, but they'd be hard to carry by myself."

"I see." Toru nodded. "Alright."

Aoi smiled back at him and stretched out her hand to take his empty cup. "Thank you, Toru."

Toru handed it back to her, watching her slip it over her own cup like a sheath.

"I'm going to miss this uniform." Aoi said with a sigh.

"Really?" Toru asked in genuine surprise.

"No." She answered, poking her tongue out at him. "But I will miss what it means."

"Aoi... Are you leaving because-"

Aoi raised one finger to stop him in mid sentence. "No."

Toru dipped his head again, feeling guilty for making himself sound so obvious and self-important.

"I'll tell you why... I promise... But I can't do it right now." She continued.

There was a sudden crack as the door to the operations centre opened then a clunk as it closed shortly after. Natsuki came toward the two of them, her face hidden by the red and yellow-striped crash helmet adorning her head. She passed by Aoi and Toru without a word and straddled the seat of her motorcycle.

"Natsuki..." Toru began calling to her, but his voice was drowned out by the sound of the motorcycle's engine revving into life.

Natsuki looked over her shoulder at Toru, her eyes mostly invisible under the helmet's visor. Toru could feel the disappointment even through the obstruction but he dared not push his luck against her by trying to talk her out of her cold mood. As much as Natsuki liked him, even her patience had its limits.

Natsuki turned her head back to focus on the bike, the worn rubber tyres screeched against the asphalt, and Natsuki, carried by the machine, shot off into the distance in a matter of seconds.

-

It was ten minutes before Natsuki finally came to a stop at the end of the blockaded area, leading down toward the bay where the Kasha had first materialized. The moon was bright in the night sky, and everything seemed peaceful, the euphoria of the battle against the monster was quickly becoming a faded memory.

Natsuki removed her helmet and tossed her hair back to regain its shape, the expression on her face somewhat lonely and dejected. Tonight was supposed to have been her night, the night she had been preparing for, for so long. She had waited so long to work up the courage, and she barely got the chance to sing for him.

"...Sing for him?" She scoffed at her own stupidity.

What good was it going to do? Competing with Aoi was like trying to distance Toru from his own family. Even if she succeeded, Aoi was always going to be lingering, even if only as a memory.

'_Maybe it would be better to give up._' Natsuki thought to herself, her expression darkening with the thought. "I don't know..." She said out loud.

Natsuki shook her head and rubbed her eyes. "This isn't like me. When did I get like this?" She knew the answer but couldn't bring herself to say it out loud.

'_Since I met him._'

Natsuki shook her head slightly and straightened determinedly. '_I won't wait any more. I'll tell him, and then... I'll ask him exactly how he feels._'

Without taking the time to replace her helmet, Natsuki's throttled the bike back into motion, making a quick u-turn back toward the site where the Kasha went down.

-

Masaki was about to close up the rear hatch of the Osprey when Natsuki arrived back at the scene, and the operations centre was nowhere to be seen.

"Masaki!" Natsuki shouted to him, and her bike came screeching to a halt just inches from crashing into his body.

"Uwahh!" Masaki toppled over as he backed away from the screeching machine, the heels of his feet getting caught on the hatch door.

"Geez, Na-chan!" Masaki rubbed the back of his head, then straightened his skewed glasses back into position.

"Toru. Where is he?" She asked, the usual insistent edge returning to her voice.

"I'm fine, don't worry about that." Masaki frowned at her.

"Masaki!" Natsuki narrowed her eyes and revved the engine of her motorcycle impatiently.

"They already went back to headquarters! Everyone thought that's where you were going too."

The bike screeched back into motion, leaving Masaki sitting indignantly on his posterior.

"Honestly..." He sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose between his thumb and index finger. "I really hope the new one is cute."

"OI!" A gruff shout from the cockpit of the Osprey shook Masaki from his stupor.

"Yeah, yeah." Masaki sulked, pulling himself to his feet, then pushed the bridge of his glasses firmly to the top of the nasal bones. He smirked and looked over at the disappearing red light of Natsuki's motorcycle.

"Good luck."

-

Natsuki barrelled up to the parking garage of the Ministry of Defence headquarters. The short delay while waiting for access felt like an excruciating waste of time while this confidence was burning a hole in her heart.

The bike followed the painted path around the cold structure until Natsuki finally came upon the allocated section for the Supernatural Disaster Prevention units. Several members of the returning Tokusen one scattered as the bike screamed towards them, but as she swerved to ensure she didn't collide with one of them, her frantic driving on damaged tyres finally caused the rear wheel of her bike to blow out with a sudden low snap, and she skidded to a halt just before Toru's usual parking space was visible.

Natsuki jumped off the debilitated bike and ran the last few yards to the fourth division's allocated spaces.

The fire in her chest flickered excitedly as she dashed around the monstrous form of Kudou's sports utility vehicle. But her excitement and elation at her sudden burst of confidence was snuffed as the space came into view.

There was nothing there but an empty concrete rectangle.


	4. Chapter 4

Toru drove a maroon '94 Porsche 928, a fact of which he was rather proud, the touring car purred along the quiet streets toward Aoi's apartment. The rear seats had been collapsed and the luggage space was filled with several boxes of Aoi's belongings from the Ministry of Defence building.

Toru noted that he hadn't been this way for quite some time. Visiting Aoi's apartment had been something he hadn't done since he had joined the fourth division as their firearms specialist. Since they saw each other almost every day it hadn't occurred to him until now that it had been so long since he had seen it.

Aoi hadn't said a word since they'd left the parking garage, and even now she was staring silently and dreamily out of the passenger side window, as if she were waiting for something to pass by.

Toru drummed his fingers along the underside of the steering wheel with the discomfort of the silence, as it was uncharacteristic of his childhood friend to be so quiet. He stole a sideways glance at her while checking the car's mirrors. Before leaving she had changed out of the fourth division's uniform and packed it neatly away into one of her boxes. Now she was dressed in a simple cream skirt and coat, her hair now hanging loose around her neck and shoulders, something else he had not seen in quite some time.

Toru considered if there were something he should say to break the silence, but he wasn't good at making small talk. Usually she made enough for both of them, which is what made this predicament so unusual.

"Hey..." Aoi said suddenly yet softly.

Toru was surprised at the sudden interruption to his chain of thought, and he eased off on the accelerator to glance at her again.

"Can we stop here for a while?" She asked, still staring out of the window.

"Why?" Toru eased further off the accelerator and looked at her more firmly this time.

"Please?" She asked him, again without stealing her gaze from the glass.

Toru didn't respond verbally, but he pulled the car over to the side of the road, and dimmed the car's headlights as it came to a halt.

Aoi turned her head slowly and smiled warmly at him. "Do you know where we are?"

Toru took a glance out through the wind shield to the building on the side of the road. The grounds were fairly large and spacious with a cluster of three buildings toward the rear of the compound.

"It's our middle-school." Toru said, observing the familiar placement of buildings and markings.

"Right." Aoi said, freeing herself from the car's safety belt and opening the door to the outside.

"Aoi...?" Toru asked as she got out of car.

"Come on. I want to show you something." She smiled and bent down from the outside to look Toru in the eyes, her hair fanning outwards from her back to her head as she leant further.

Toru got out of the car without protest and walked around to stand next to Aoi.

"It's really nostalgic, isn't it?" Aoi asked as she approached the gate.

Toru nodded and looked around further, it seemed like nothing had changed even after more than ten years.

"I have many fond memories here, more than anywhere else, I think." The reminiscent tone of her voice, told Toru that she was happily remembering their childhood.

Aoi's hands came up to the lock on the gate and cupped it with her off hand. By the time Toru noticed what she was doing, the gate was already open, a single worn down looking key sliding back between her fingers.

"Do I want to know how you got that?" He asked.

"It's nothing sinister if that's what you're thinking." She poked her tongue out at him again and pushed the gate inwards. The hinges gave way with a creak and swang easily under her arms.

The two of them began walking up the path toward the main school building. It was an eerie looking building at night, but the light from the full moon and Aoi's presence made it somehow more romantic than Toru would have expected.

"I guess this as far as we go, right?" Toru said as they reached the main door.

"Hmmhmm!" Aoi smiled smugly and waved a second key at Toru.

"How did you-"

Aoi cut him off again with a raised finger and a wink, then turned to unlock the door. The halls were the same as he remembered, even the smell of the place was just as they had left it all those years ago.

"Ah, it brings back memories... doesn't it?" Aoi sighed happily as they walked through the darkened hallways, past the classrooms and offices that seemed so familiar yet so much smaller than they had been.

The familiar presence of children at the end of their journey through innocence was still all around them. Finally they reached the large assembly hall, moonlight filtered through the rows of high windows illuminating the bare stage and the scuffed wooden floor beneath their feet. Aoi turned to Toru, the two of them stopped in the centre of the hall. And she looked into his eyes with the same happy, warm smile he had always known, etched upon her delicate face.

"This is why I'm leaving." She announced happily.

"I don't understand." Toru scratched the back of his head and and examined Aoi's flushing face.

Aoi turned and spread her arms as if to encompass the entire hall. "Come Monday morning, I'll be working here. It's what I've always wanted to do, because this is where I remember feeling the happiest.

"That's why you have the keys." Toru said absently.

"Of course, silly." She turned back to him and took hold of his eyes once again.

"And I brought you here because..." She swallowed hard before continuing, "...This is where I first fell in love with you, Toru."

Toru stood in stunned silence, and Aoi flushed a deep shade of red, dipping her blushing face and averting her eyes from his.

"..Y-You could at least say something." She flustered awkwardly.

"Aoi..." Toru began, but found himself lost for the appropriate words to respond to her feelings.

"I need to know, Toru." Aoi looked a little sad now, "I know how Natsuki feels about you, and I know you've been neglecting both of us because you don't want to hurt anyone... But I need to know... If you feel the same way about me, that I feel about you."

An absolutely torturous feeling of guilt welled up in the pit of Toru's stomach, and his heart sank inside his chest. Every facet of his being wanted to embrace Aoi, to show her the feelings he had been harbouring for so many years, but every time the words formed on the tip of his tongue, his heart pulled them back and all he could see was Natsuki's crestfallen face.

"Aoi... I..." Toru's words hung in the air, but they weren't the words he wanted to say.

Aoi dipped her face again, her expression darker and her eyes now hidden from his view. The soft patter of tear drops echoed on the polished wooden floor, and her thin frame began to visibly shake with the frustration of her sorrow.

Toru couldn't bear it any more, his arms moved of their own accord and he pulled Aoi's body into him clutching her head tightly against his chest. Aoi's tears became sobs and she wrapped her arms Toru's waist, hugging him tight.

"I'll always love you, Aoi." Toru said as she continued to sob into his uniform. "But..."

"Don't... please." She begged between muffled cries. "Just let me... have this moment."

Aoi tightened her grip on Toru's waist, squeezing into him as tightly as she could, if she had been a little stronger it could have been something to worry about.

"I waited too long, didn't I?" She raised her head and smiled up at him, her cheeks still streaked with tears.

"Aoi..." Toru cupped her head back into his chest, and nuzzled his cheek against her hair.

"Toru..." Aoi reluctantly pushed away from him, and dried her cheeks on the backs of her palms. She smiled again, even though she was in pain and managed a bit of a nervous laugh.

"Aoi..." Toru repeated again.

Aoi turned on the spot and looked up at the stage behind them, wanting to hide her face from Toru.

"Oh... Look at me, I'm so foolish." She sniffed, and kicked one leg around freely but half-heartedly, "I feel like I'm ten years old again."

Toru stared at her, the feeling of guilt in his stomach only intensified as she tried to shrug off the rejection as best she could.

"Toru..." Aoi turned to face him again, now smiling broader than she had before. "Tomorrow... You should tell her how you feel, okay? If you let her down as well, I won't forgive you."

Toru smiled awkwardly back at her, and the feeling of guilt eased a little.

Aoi coughed to clear her throat and stood up straight. "Take me home, Agent seven seven." She announced in her operator's voice.

"Acknowledged." He replied, the feeling easing up further.

Aoi took a step toward Toru but was halted suddenly and looked up at the wall behind Toru. "Ah! Look! Isn't that pretty?"

Toru turned to see what Aoi had noticed, on the wall was an unusual looking blue butterfly, it glowed quite mysteriously in the moonlight, and fluttered its wings quite innocently.

Without warning, the windows in the hall exploded, and shattered inwards, a jet of flame issuing forth from each window frame knocking Aoi off her feet. The stage and walls around them lit up instantly, and the room began to rage with angry fire.

A stray shard of glass from the windows nicked Toru on the forehead, and the wound quickly began to bleed over his left eye.

'_What's happening?!'_ Was the only thought going through his mind.

The familiar presence of an out of place apparition quickly filtered through the room. Toru drew one of his Walthers and squinted through his one remaining good eye to get a look at the creature behind the curtain of fire. A trio of Category C Flaemis hovered outside the windows, the fire spirits were engaged in a fight against what appeared to be a teenage girl armed with a long sword. Toru took aim with his own weapon and let off a volley of shots against the closest apparition.

Aoi lay still on the burning floor, unbeknownst to Toru a large jagged shard of glass had embedded itself in her chest, blood was oozing around would-be dagger and it felt hard to breathe. Aoi tried desperately to call out for Toru, but no sound issued forth from her lips.

Aoi could do nothing but stare upwards, and observe. Water began to leak from the ceiling, the explosion had likely damaged one of the pipes running through the space above the hall. The water ran off the stage and passed through the fire, but did not seem to put it out like it should have.

"My, my. This is interesting."

Aoi's eyes shifted to the side to see a boy standing over her, his unusual silver hair hanging low over his eyes. He looked just about old enough to be attending this school, but there was something off about him.

"I've been watching you. There is a great deal of hate in your heart, isn't there?"

Aoi wanted to get up, she wanted to run away, but she couldn't move.

"Why don't I help you express yourself a little better?"

Aoi trembled as the boy lifted the bangs of his hair and her eyes visibly shrank as his own left eye came into view.

Toru's bullets removed the head from one of the Flaemis, and its burning aura dissipated into nothing along with its body. The same thing happened with the next nearest Flaemis, the unknown girls' sword cut through its spiritual body, extinguishing its light and removing it from existence. The third and final Flaemis however caught her off guard, the force of its stream of fire throwing her back through one of the broken windows.

By this time the water had formed into a shallow pool around the hall, and Toru skid across the slick the surface to catch her before she collided with the surface.

Another fast volley from the pistol decapitated the final Flaemis, but that was the smallest problem now. The aura of the room suddenly changed, like all the air had suddenly been blown into fast circulation. The girl at Toru's side regained her balance and pushed herself back to her feet.

"Aoi!" Toru called out toward the stage, wiping the blood from his left eye, "AOI!"

The girl took a glance over at Aoi, now laying on her side below a swarm of blue butterflies. She quickly turned to Toru to stop him from going near her.

"Give it up!" She yelled at him, shaking her head to clear it from the sudden new presence in the room. "That's not the girl you knew any more!"

Toru turned on her angrily, his eyes wide with rage at the suggestion. "You don't know what you're telling me to give up!" He shouted into her face, "MOVE!" And he pushed her aside and resumed his approach to Aoi.

"It's already too late!" She called after him.

Toru looked first at Aoi, then at the silver haired boy kneeling over her. And instantly raised his weapon to take a shot at the child. But Aoi stood, and lingered in the line of fire between Toru and the child. The shard of glass had been removed from her chest, and in its place a curious red stone that had drawn up the skin around into a twisted bunch of veins.

Aoi took unsteady steps toward Toru, her eyes blank and cold, but her gaze fixed on him the whole time. Toru backed away trying to re-establish his line of fire, but Aoi moved with him, drawing closer with every step.

"Aoi..! Stop!" He called to her, a little softer now.

"Shoot!" The girl called from the side, standing perfectly still with her sword by her side.

"Aoi!" Toru called again, trying to make her snap out of her stupor.

Aoi continued forward, pressing her chest against the barrel of Toru's weapon, but making no further movements. She merely stared at him with this those empty, dead eyes.

"I'm begging you..." Toru called to her again, but Aoi continued to press herself against the barrel of the gun. "Aoi!" He called once more, this time more urgently, but still there was no response.

Tears formed in the corner of Toru's eyes and his face twisted with despair, he knew exactly what she was, but he couldn't... wouldn't accept it.

"SHOOT HER!" The girl yelled with all her might from the side of the room.

Toru's finger quivered against the trigger, and before he realized what he had done. The sound of a bullet discharging echoed around the flame filled hall.

The silver haired boy smiled with smug satisfaction, his eyes once again completely hidden behind a mop of ragged silver hair, before slowly disappearing behind the curtain of flame in front the stage.

Smoke rose from the burning fabric of Aoi's coat and the barrel of the gun while tears streamed down Toru's face, at the realization of what he'd just done.

How had it come to this?

Toru looked at Aoi's face, her hair dripping wet against his chest. She looked into his eyes one final time, the same warm smile she had always worn etched upon her face. But all too soon her legs gave way, and she collapsed to her knees, and finally her head came to rest in the water pooling at Toru's feet.


	5. Chapter 5

"STAY BACK!" Toru snarled angrily through tear stained eyes, and whipped his pistol up to bear.

The man in the black suit threw up both his hands, visibly shocked at the reaction to his approach, and backed up a few steps. Toru was in a crouching position, cradling Aoi's lifeless body with his free arm, just outside the smouldering school building. The sun was rising slowly in the distance, and as the sun's rays filtered into Toru's world so too did more men and women dressed in black suits. Each of them were eyeing both him and Aoi, some out of concern others out of pure morbid curiosity.

The girl with the long sword was some ways away now, talking busily with a rather large man with a streak of cropped white hair, and white, empty eyes. Smiling, carefree as if nothing had happened at all, like Toru's world hadn't just been broken apart because of their operation.

"Um..." The man closest to Toru with his hands still in the air, tried to capture Toru's attention.

Toru said nothing, but stared back into his eyes, the Walther P99 shaking in his hand as he tried to hold the man steadily in his sights.

"It needs to be burnt... the body..." The man swallowed nervously.

Toru dipped his face and spat out a single gasp of amusement. 'The body.' He thought to himself, how callous it all seemed now, even though if their positions were reversed he would likely have said the same thing.

"Please, sir... The body has to be-"

Toru snapped his face back up, his expression now clear and determined, glaring at the young man whose hands were still in the air. "If you come near her, I will put a bullet in your head."

The young man shrank back again at the threat, then hung his head and sighed, his hands still held up above him.

Out of the corner of his eye, Toru saw the man with empty eyes had now taken an interest in the situation, obviously having had enough of observing the efforts of his younger colleague. Now he was approaching himself probably to convince Toru to give up Aoi's body. Toru shifted his position slightly to dig the balls of both feet into soles of his combat boots, ready to push off quickly if the need arose.

The younger man backed away further at his senior's approach, and finally dropped his hands back to his sides. The man with empty eyes looked briefly at Toru holding Aoi's body firmly to his chest, the trembling point of the silver pistol now wavering in his direction. The large man stood firmly against the threat and did not show the slightest sign of weakness, then unexpectedly crouched down on one knee to talk to him.

"We're sorry," The man began, "We weren't expecting anyone else to be here, let alone someone from the Ministry of Defence. Understand, it was not our intention harm either of you."

Toru eased his defiant stature a little and averted his eyes, now feeling somewhat ashamed of himself. Civilian casualties were sometimes unavoidable, he knew that, but why now? Why here, and why Aoi?

"You're from the Supernatural Disaster Prevention Division, so I can tell you." The man continued, "We tracked a 'unique-point' to this building, even though all we found were a group of Category C, they would still have attacked you even if we hadn't come. Places like this are always dangerous because of the strong feelings people leave behind, in our line of work you should know that."

'Of course I know.' Toru thought to himself. He could see what the man was doing though, giving him a little information, offering reassurance so that Toru would respond in kind.

"If we don't burn her body, she could become an evil spirit. So you need to ask yourself if holding on to her now is worth having to hunt her down and kill her again."

Toru considered the words seriously, he knew that wasn't always the case, but this wasn't a usual circumstance. Aoi wasn't the type to become vengeful, but it was that stone that bothered him the most. Even now it shone red in the daylight like it was alive, just waiting for a chance to turn her body into some twisted apparition.

"So what's it going to be?" The man asked.

Toru was about to give in and her over, when the whipping sound of helicopter blades cut through the distance. A CH-47 Chinook helicopter sped into view at full pelt, covering a tremendous distance and setting down in the remains of the school grounds, causing several of the Ministry of Environments agents to scatter from its chosen landing zone. The man with empty eyes stood to watch the Chinook make its landing, his expression twisting into annoyance.

The doors of the helicopter clattered open, and a fully armed section of the second division poured forth to surround Toru, the empty eyed man, and the young agent that once again put his hands into the air, perhaps even higher this time.

"What's going on here?!" The empty eyed man demanded, "The Ministry of Environment has already secured this location!"

"But it would seem that the Ministry of Defence was first on the scene." A voice from the helicopter responded with a knowing tone of satisfaction.

From the helicopter emerged another three figures, two more of the tan uniformed second division troops and a man with shaggy, silver hair in his late thirties. The man sported a black variation of a military dress uniform and a pair of tinted glasses, which he held in place with his left hand as he disembarked the craft.

"Chief Kiriya..." Toru said out loud.

Kiriya's appearance hadn't been expected, while he had notified the Ministry of Defence immediately after leaving the building he hadn't expected Kiriya to come personally. Differing from the troops he arrived with, the silver haired man, Kiriya, wore the fourth division logo on his left sleeve.

"The Ministry of Defence will be making the preparations to purify Aoi's body, but you may continue with your clean up operations." Kiriya said smugly as he walked by.

Toru dropped the Walther P99 to his side as Kiriya passed by the towering man, his grip on Aoi unconsciously tightening. Kiriya knelt by Toru's side and examined Aoi, brushing the hair back from her face.

Kiriya's face visibly flinched with pain when his eyes were drawn to the spot where the point blank shot from Toru's pistol had torn a gaping hole in Aoi's chest. Kiriya reached for Toru's drawn Walther and eased it out of his grip. Toru offered no resistance to Kiriya's intervention, he was after all, the one person who knew Aoi almost as well as he did.

"What happened?" Kiriya asked, his face was pale, and his voice cracked a little as he asked. Toru could see, Kiriya had arrived with the intention of retaining his composure, but seeing Aoi's body as it was, was not an easy thing to take.

Toru couldn't find the words to tell Kiriya what he had done, how could he? He had killed her himself, with his own hands.

Kiriya's eyes narrowed on the red stone in Aoi's chest, and he brought his fist up to cover his mouth as he considered it. "So... this is it." He murmured under his breath.

After a long while of silence, Kiriya closed his eyes and sighed. "Take her inside." He said finally, and stood to make room for Toru to straighten himself.

Toru nodded and lifted Aoi into both arms, still holding her head securely to his chest, while her legs dangled over his right arm. The large man from the ministry of the environment waved his colleagues off to make room for him, and the members of the second division parted their line in turn.

It felt like a funeral procession, when all eyes were on him and Aoi again. The door to the Chinook grew closer with every step, and Toru paused briefly outside to steady himself to take the step up. He turned his head briefly to look at the girl with the long sword, her long black hair tied back into high tail. It was a very traditional look, and Toru noted she was a very beautiful girl for her age. Toru stared at her with a plain expression, and she didn't seem to know how to respond to him only stared back with an equally blank look on her face.

As he took the step into the aircraft, Toru turned his head again to look at her one more time. Her violet eyes were intense and striking, but there was something wrong with them. Toru couldn't tell what it was, but staring into those eyes felt like he was falling into death.

"We're done here." Kiriya announced to the second division troops, who were gripping their machine guns anxiously while eyeing the Ministry of Environment.

The troops looked at each other a little confused, they couldn't understand why they had been mobilized just to pick up a dead body. But it was no secret that the Ministry of Defence didn't like the Ministry of Environment's Supernatural Disaster Countermeasure Division, thus it wasn't a stretch of the imagination to see it simply as a show of force.

The second division commander shrugged and waved his troops back inside the Chinook, where Toru had taken up several of the seats that would normally have been occupied by laying down Aoi's body.

Kiriya was the last one inside, he hovered around the doorway as the tandem rotors began spinning up again, and took a long look at the man with empty white eyes, then smiled at him. The kind of smile that says 'I know something you don't want anyone to know.'

The CH-47 shuddered and lifted off from the now flattened section of the grounds, sending rushing air flowing through the clothing of everyone still on the ground. Kiriya looked around at all the people as they became smaller with the helicopter's ascent, then finally sealed the door, cutting off the Ministry of Environment from Aoi's body, forever.

"Oi, Sakuraba." The white eyed man snorted brashly.

"Yeah?" Asked the young man who had failed to convince Toru to hand over Aoi's body.

"You can put your hands down now." He replied.

"Oh."


	6. Chapter 6

The air was whipped around the rooftop of the Ministry of Defence building as the second division's CH-47 came in to land. Almost as soon as it had touched down, Aoi's body was rushed out of the Chinook on a collapsed gurney, by two members of the second division.

The remaining three members of the fourth division were all present, and had been waiting for some time for the helicopter to return. Masaki, and Natsuki both in their civilian clothes, and the leader of the combat team Kudou, characterized by the single scar running from his hair line to his left ear, bisecting his eyebrow and coming dangerously close to one eye.

They all looked a little disturbed as Aoi's body, hidden under a blanket, hurtled by them without so much as an acknowledgement from the second division.

All eyes went back to the Chinook as Kiriya disembarked, his expression serious, a far cry from the bravado he had displayed to the Ministry of Environment just a little while ago.

The remainder of the second division was next to step down, walking by the members of the fourth in a collected orderly fashion, Kiriya tagging along behind them. One couldn't have expected much else, while Aoi was important to everyone in the fourth division, the other teams never interacted much with those that worked in the operations centres of other divisions, but Kiriya... that was surprising to the rest of the team.

Finally, Toru was the last to exit the vehicle, his eyes dark, with heavy bags forming underneath. Toru stood still on the concrete, the whirring blades and the whine of the engine behind him crawling to a halt. It seemed he had lost a part of himself on the way back, his head was low and he could not raise it to look his team mates in the eye. The guilt was too much, the sense of overwhelming shame at what he had allowed to happen was eating at him now more than he could have ever imagined.

Masaki closed his eyes and bit his bottom lip, turning his head away from Toru. He didn't blame Toru for what happened, nobody did, but right now looking at the poor figure that presented itself in Toru's stead was only salt in the wound that had been inflicted on the team.

Natsuki took a few steps toward Toru, still frozen in place by the weight of his own guilt, and tried to get a look into his eyes. Natsuki's face was sullen and just as guilt ridden as Toru's. Just a few hours ago she had been cursing Aoi's existence and now... it felt just a little more difficult to live with herself.

Toru tilted his head a little bit and met Natsuki's mauve, beautiful wide eyes. He felt the tears forcing themselves to the surface again and he quickly dipped his face back out of sight.

"Toru..." She said gently as she approached him, close enough now to reach out and touch him, to reassure him that everything would be okay, that they were all on his side.

Toru moved first however, he dropped to his knees and grasped at Natsuki's clothing, pulling her awkwardly toward himself.

"Natsuki... I'm sorry... I'm sorry..." He repeated over and over between light sobs, his voice steadily gaining pitch as he went.

Natsuki choked down her own discomfort and wrapped her arms around Toru's head, easing it gently into her belly. Now wasn't the time to be thinking selfishly about her own feelings, right now she had to be strong for him.

"It's okay..." She whispered to him while he cried into her shirt. "It's okay... We're all here for you. We're all here for both of you."

Kudou just stared the whole time, his heavy combat boots clunking against the tarmac as he tapped his foot. But he wasn't looking at Toru or Natsuki, his gaze was fixed firmly on Kiriya. The look in his eyes was calm, but there was a defined streak of annoyance carved into the way his lips were oddly pursed.

And that way it stayed, for what seemed like the longest moment they had ever spent together.

-

A short while later, just inside the upper levels of the MoD building, Natsuki, Toru, and Masaki had taken up residence in one of the empty interview rooms.

Natsuki held the back of Toru's head in her lap, while the rest of his body was spread out over a row of chairs. He was sleeping peacefully now, something that he had been long overdue for. Natsuki couldn't help but hope that he would feel better after resting, but she knew deep down that wouldn't be the case. It wasn't in Toru's nature, or anybody's nature to get over something like this so quickly.

No, it was much more like Toru to get even more worked up over it. His grief would turn to reflection and the reflection would quickly turn to anger, and he would lose himself in it, until he had achieved nothing short of exhaustion.

It was somewhat comforting though, for Natsuki to hold him like this. She smiled slightly and played with Toru's messy mop of hair, curling strands around her fingers and brushing it aside to look at the skin of his forehead underneath. Just a little while ago, something like this seemed like an impossible dream... But now...

'_I'm disgusting..._' Natsuki cursed herself internally for having such thoughts, and her smile dropped instantly.

Masaki held the bridge of his nose between his thumb and index finger, something that had become a habit as of late, and was quietly thinking to himself. He hadn't really known Aoi all that well, he had joined the team just a short while before Toru but had never really had cause to speak with Aoi. Since all he seemed to do was co-pilot the Osprey and generate the holy water for dispersal.

This wasn't a comfort to him however, for a comrade that everyone else had loved and admired to have passed away and have so little meaning to him, made him feel like the worst human being on earth.

He'd do better from now on, he swore it to himself. From now on he'd make the effort to close the gaps between himself everyone else on the team. If anything else ever happened, he never wanted to forget that pain, and the struggles and successes each one of them went through from day to day.

"Hey... Na-chan." Masaki said, taking his glasses off and setting them down on the table in front of him.

Natsuki looked at him, her fingers unconsciously resuming their play with Toru's hair.

"Tell me about her... You were both friends, right?" He asked solemnly.

Natsuki mulled over the question for a second. Had they been friends, really? Despite being recruited at roughly the same time, she too hadn't had much of a chance to get to know Aoi on a personal level.

"I don't know..." She said, her voice heavy with regret. "The only one that really knew her was this one." She said looking back down at Toru.

Masaki looked a little disappointed at the response, of the three of them Toru was the most difficult to talk to, not as difficult as Kudou of course, but pretty close.

"Ah~h..." He let out an exaggerated sigh. "She must be in heaven right now thinking we're terrible people."

Natsuki shook her head. "No... She wouldn't think that."

"I guess." Masaki pondered.

Natsuki stroked Toru's brow again, doing her best to resist the compulsion to embrace him, as she didn't want to disturb his rest. And even though that face looked so sad... She wished he could stay right here forever.

-

"Chief!" Kudou blurted angrily as he stomped after the leader of the fourth division.

Kiriya looked over his shoulder at Kudou's approach, his face caught somewhere half way between contemplation and amusement.

"What is it, Captain Kuzuno?" Kiriya asked, even though he knew what the problem was before the words came out of his mouth.

Kudou's cheek twitched at the sight of Kiriya's flippant expression. Considering he worked closer with Aoi than any of the others, he seemed to be the least bothered by it. "You took Aoi right by us without even letting us-"

Kiriya raised one hand to stop Kudou in his tracks. "It was necessary."

"What was necessary about keeping her from her comrades!" Kudou blustered, his tone quickly becoming increasingly frustrated.

"Come with me." Kiriya turned away and continued walking down the corridor,

"Chief!" Kudou stalked after him, still enraged and a little confused.

Kiriya led Kudou down a flight of stairs and into a darkened room where Aoi's body had been placed on a surgical table. Several masked figures surrounded her and appeared to be working on the wound in her chest.

The two of them observed as the surgeons did their work, Kiriya with a sense of fascination and Kudou with a feeling of indignation. Aoi's body shuddered unexpectedly as the surgical tools cut into the flesh surrounding red stone.

Kiriya stepped forward anxiously while Kudou's head shifted backwards in shock at the sudden movement from the corpse. The surgeons continued to cut around the stone, and the body shuddered again, this time Aoi's eyes opened revealing inverted black eyes with white slits for pupils.

"Kiriya!" Kudou raged, reaching for his sidearm, but grasping at air before he realized that he was still in civilian clothes.

"The Sesshouseki is trying to revive her, cut it out at once!" Kiriya ordered them urgently, "Delicacy isn't important!"

The lead surgeon flipped the scalpel in his hand, and carved a deep gash around the stone. A second surgeon gripped it with a clamp and pulled it free of Aoi's body, tearing off an untidy clump of flesh along with it. As the stone came free of her body, the black in Aoi's eyes faded, the pupils and the white of her eyes returning to normal.

Kudou was repulsed at what he had just witnessed. Had she still been alive all this time? No, with a wound like that surely it was impossible.

"Begin cleaning the body with holy water." Kiriya directed the team standing around Aoi's still body.

The surgeon that had torn the red stone from Aoi's chest finished cutting free the last of the ragged flesh that was clinging to it, before sealing it carefully inside a thick metal box.

"Oi, Kiriya! What's the meaning of this?!" Kudou demanded.

"I'm sorry, Captain." Kiriya began, "This opportunity had to be taken."

Kiriya took the box from the surgeon and presented it to Kudou, who refused to touch it.

"This is the reason behind the recent increase in the appearance of violent spirits." Kiriya continued, "I'm sure of it."

Kudou looked curiously now at the box in Kiriya's hands, picturing the small red stone inside it.

"The Ministry of Environment makes use of one of these stones, it is used as a power source for one of their spirit using organizations, the Tsuchimiya family and their Ga-Rei Byakuei."

Kudou nodded, he had heard of the Tsuchimiya family and their ties to the Ministry of Environment, but he had never seen the Ga-Rei first hand.

In the background, the medical staff had now begun cleansing Aoi's body with holy water, it fizzed and steamed as it stripped away an unseen layer of Miasma, but unlike the evil spirits the fourth division had been formed to combat, the holy water did no damage to her own skin.

"Until now, the advantage of a Sesshouseki sample has been out of reach for the Ministry of Defence. So you see, this was necessary for us."

Kudou understood Kiriya's motives, but he still didn't agree with his treatment of Aoi's body.

"So what are we going to do with it?" Asked Kudou.

"We?" Kiriya asked, honestly surprised. "Nothing."

Kudou raised his bisected eyebrow quizzically at his commander.

"I will study it of course." Kiriya informed him, his face curling into a reassuring smile. "But for the rest of you... Tomorrow there is a friend to whom you should be paying your respects, isn't there?"


	7. Chapter 7

"I'm Izumi Mami! I look forward to working with you!" The young girl bowed deeply, rings of braided hair and a big yellow bow tying them together bounced as her upper body swept down gracefully.

Masaki stood with his mouth agape, and would have stayed that way had Kudou not clipped him across the back of the head. Masaki made a bowing motion from the blow, hoping to pass it off as completely intentional.

"Shindo Masaki! Nice to meet you, Mami-chan!" Masaki blurted out, hardly able to contain his enthusiasm.

"Now that we're all acquainted," began Kiriya who was standing at Mami's side, "I'll be briefing the three of you on the results of the initial study of Aoi's Sesshouseki.

"Chief, what about Natsuki and Toru?" Asked Masaki, resuming his standing position.

"Toru needs some more time." Kudou responded in Kiriya's stead. "He's not going to be useful to the team while he's like that."

"So, Masaki. You'll have to remember enough for both of them." Kiriya continued from Kudou's reminder.

"Ha..." Masaki sighed.

Kiriya motioned for the three of them to take their seats, and using a remote linked to a large screen behind him, Kiriya began a lecture on the results of his study of the Sesshouseki.

"Unique-points." Kiriya began, a satellite map of the local city area appearing on screen, followed by two radiating red dots. "For a long time, this tracking technology was an exclusive asset of the Ministry of Environment. But what you're looking at now is the result of satellite detection of radiation recorded from the Aoi stone."

The screen showed two dots moving from place to place, seemingly randomly and skipping over landmarks as if they were phasing in and out of existence, the timestamp in the corner of the screen changing rapidly to reflect the times of day the emissions were visible.

"Are the satellites having trouble keeping track of the radiation?" Masaki asked noting the skipping dots and irregular timestamp.

Kiriya nodded in acknowledgement and turned to look at the map himself, two more dots appearing on the screen in blue.

"These unique-points have been confirmed as the Aoi stone," Kiriya pointed to the blue dot situated directly above the MoD building in Shinjuku, "and the stone currently in use by the Tsuchimiya family." finally moving his finger to the blue point on the other side of the map.

"The radiation from both these stones is more uniform in nature, and easier to track, but considerably weaker than the first two we detected." Kiriya turned his attention back to the red points. "Therefore we have determined that the chaotic emanations of the stronger unique-points are likely to indicate potential targets for us."

"But if we can't track them by satellite we have no way of closing in on them accurately, especially if they are small apparitions." Kudou pointed out.

"Of course." Kiriya conceded, "But we are still in the testing phase of the tracking system, and with any luck, the high grade technology available to the Ministry of Defence will yield a superior tracking system to that available to the Ministry of Environment. Right now the commander of Tokusen Three is already working on enhancing the satellite tracking system using the hardware already available."

Masaki bit his bottom lip, not in discomfort but because he was completely enthralled by the prospect of having a new toy to play with.

"The biggest problem facing us is not the tracking however, but the kinds of apparitions that unique-points indicate." The screen shifted again showing a small testing facility containing a glass observation room, lined by a metal cage.

"Judging by the way the stone made a connection with Aoi, we judged that it forms a bond between itself and a host by blood." Kiriya caused the screen to shift again, showing a small rodent having an incision cut on its back, and the stone being dropped into place over the wound.

The transformation in attitude was almost instantaneous. The rodent became violent and threw itself at the glass, screaming in its attempt to gain freedom.

"A second rodent was introduced to the cage, and the results were not pretty." Kiriya continued, as the image on the screen became still. "From the time it took to murder the second rodent, and the damage caused to its body, we estimated close to a two hundred percent increase in its physical capabilities."

Masaki's jaw dropped again at the prospect that came instantly running into his mind. "Then, if one of those stones has attached itself to a Category B spirit like a Kasha..."

"It would most likely result in a stronger, larger Kasha." Kiriya continued with the obvious conclusion. "From other animal tests however, we discovered that the increase in potential reflects the size of the subject, something as large as a Kasha would not see the full two hundred percent potential increase. The most worrying aspect of this, is the relative size and power of the average human, combined with the mental and spiritual attributes that are unique to humans... Any human under the influence of an unregulated stone would almost certainly become high-end Category A apparition in a matter of days... perhaps shorter... as its body is eaten away and replaced by the stone's Miasma.

"So those points are..." Masaki started.

Kiriya nodded and finished the sentence. "More than likely, reactions from powerful Category A."

Kiriya turned to Mami and smiled, "I'm sorry to put you through this on your first day. Are you keeping up so far, Mami?"

"Ah, yes!" Mami smiled back, confident in her ability, "I spent a lot of time with training with the Tokusen One operations centre, so I know a lot about the different types already."

"That's good." Kudou nodded, "Tokusen One does the bulk of the work around here, that experience will be invaluable."

"Ah, yes sir. Thank you." Mami bowed again in Kudou's direction.

"What about the stone in use by the Ministry of Environment, how do the Tsuchimiya family prevent themselves from becoming Category A?" Masaki asked.

"They don't." Kiriya said. "From what I understand, unless the stone is passed on to a successor before the damage to the body becomes too grave, the lifespan of the average of Byakuei wielder is relatively short, they almost certainly don't make it through their forties after prolonged use of the stone."

"Still, forty years is a lot longer than your projected amount of days." Masaki pointed out.

"That's true." Kiriya turned off the display and sat at his desk, cradling his chin on the backs of his hands while he thought about it. "That is why I was sure to mention that would be with an unregulated stone like ours, there must be some manner of regulatory seal placed on the user when they receive it, limiting the amount of Miasma absorbed by the body."

"I see..." Masaki turned his eyes upwards to ceiling, and tapped his finger on the table in front of him, attempting to expedite his thought process.

"That's why I'm making it your job, Masaki, to design something to allow us to limit the flow of Miasma from the stone in the same way the Tsuchimiya do." Kiriya grinned mischievously.

"Eh?! ME?!" Masaki snapped out of his train of thought at the absurdity of the task he'd just been given.

"Oi, Chief!" Kudou cut in, hammering his fist against the table, "Are you planning on attaching that thing to one of us?!"

"Of course not." Kiriya adjusted his glasses to hide any potential shift in his eyes. "I wouldn't do that to anyone in this room."

Somehow, those words weren't reassuring to Kudou at all.

-

It had been at least a week now, since Aoi's funeral. Toru still found himself coming back to the cemetery day after day. Today was a little different though, the sun was setting now and he almost hadn't come today. It was only Natsuki's unexpected prompting which had reminded him.

Toru turned off the engine of his maroon automobile and made his way to the pavement area outside the cemetery. Natsuki climbed out of the passenger door, and did her best to straighten out the grey hooded jacket she had borrowed from Toru to keep warm.

She had been with him almost constantly since Aoi's funeral, and Toru was frankly happy for the company. There was nothing worse than being alone with his own thoughts.

The two of them walked up the path to the centre of the graveyard together, Natsuki keeping her eyes focused on him the whole time. He was looking much better now, his stance was more confident, and it looked like he was finally on his way to shaking off his depression. Even though she had been by his side for so long now, it never failed to impress her how different he looked in casual clothes, the orange monstrosity she was used to seeing him in definitely wasn't the best look he had.

Three girls were chatting idly amongst themselves on a bench nearby, and they passed them without taking notice. Both of them were more concerned with their objective rather than anything else surrounding them.

Toru stopped and placed the bunch of fresh flowers on Aoi's family grave, both he and Natsuki bowed their heads as a sign of respect and stood for a moment in solemn contemplation.

"Natsuki..." Toru began after a brief silence.

Natsuki turned her head to acknowledge him, and waited for him to continue.

"That child I told you about. The one at the school... I can't explain it, but I know he's responsible somehow for the increase in apparitions."

"The Chief said he was looking into it." She reminded him.

"Yeah." Toru nodded, "But I should be there, because I'm the one that has to take him down." He said, clenching his fists tight.

"Toru..." Natsuki felt like reaching out and comforting him, but she could see this wasn't being said out of distress. His eyes were clear, and his voice was resolute.

This was what Natsuki had been waiting for. For the old Toru to finally reappear, the strong Toru that would take on anything, the Toru that she had fallen in love with...

"I'm ready, Natsuki." He said turning away from the grave and walking back toward his car. "Let's go back."

"To your apartment?" She asked.

"Back to Shinjuku." He corrected.

Natsuki smiled and strode proudly after him, this was after all the Toru that she still loved, now more than ever.


	8. Chapter 8

Toru stood out alone on Shitoko 045, one of the city's sprawling expressways. All around him were the shattered frames of crushed vehicles, and the upturned body of a partially flattened semi truck.

The fiery aura of around forty Category C Flaemis made the usually cold, grey, concrete structure look like the inside of a raging oven. Above the moaning throng of Category C, a single black Kasha looked down on the lone man, its teeth bared mockingly and menacingly.

All around, the beaten and broken bodies of troops from the first division lay still, some trembling, others trying to crawl to safety despite their injuries. His usual partner in these situations, Natsuki, was nowhere in sight, and only the thrum of the fourth division's Osprey helicopter, circling high above the chaos, signified the presence of a friendly element.

All the preparations of the last few days had come down to this moment.

Toru extended his right hand to his side and fixed his eyes on the empty grins from the hostile spirits before him, squeezing the grip of one of his treasured Walther P99s in his left hand. The right sleeve of his uniform was rolled up to reveal a thick silver band on his right wrist, the bracelet came to life with shining gold scripture and began to glow and smoke as if it too were on fire.

Toru braced himself for the onset of pain, and the palm of his right hand began to glow an eerie, blood red.

-

_One day earlier._

Toru opened the door of Kiriya's office, in the middle of the labyrinthine Ministry of Defence complex, and stepped inside. The room was well lit, but simple and rather small.

Mami, the new operator for the fourth division, stood by the side of Kiriya's desk, in her hands was a clipboard for taking notes. Toru and Natsuki had been introduced to her on their return to the building in Shinjuku, by a very excited Masaki who seemed to have gotten exactly what he was wishing for. Sadly for Masaki she hadn't shown even the remotest sign of interest in him, though that fact hadn't disheartened him at all.

Kiriya himself was sitting at his desk, originally staring at the far wall, and now at Toru. His serious contemplative expression became a twisted self-satisfied smile at Toru's entrance.

"Chief." Toru acknowledged his commander, and stood before his desk.

"Toru," Kiriya began straightening himself, and giving a nod to Mami to turn on the display behind him. "It's good to see you back."

"What did you want to ask me?" Toru enquired, "Natsuki and I were going to head out on patrol."

"Looking for 'him'?" Kiriya asked slyly, the serious determined nature of Toru's tone of voice already belying the answer to that question.

Toru said nothing, but frowned at the way Kiriya was treating the whole thing like a game.

"About that..." Kiriya began. "Mami, if you would."

Mami obliged, and on the screen a satellite image of a rooftop snapped into being. There were two figures, Toru's eyes jumped to one of them immediately. Even though the image was top down, the unkempt mop of silver hair and unusual clothes were unmistakable, it was '_him_'!

"Where is he?!" Toru demanded, planting both his hands heavily on Kiriya's desk.

"We don't know." Kiriya admitted, his expression suddenly serious again. "But Toru, this isn't a fight you should just rush into. If you're not prepared, you will certainly die."

"We've taken out human type apparitions before, what makes this bastard so different?!" The infuriation in Toru's voice was more than evident.

"This one is a Category A of tremendous power. We also believe it has the ability to create other Category A through the use of the Sesshouseki, the stone it implanted in Aoi."

Toru grit his teeth and stared at the image of child on the screen, the other figure was off her feet, her silver white hair draped along the ground beside her. In all likelihood she was dead, at least that's what Toru assumed, but she was the smallest part of his concern.

"Do you hear what I'm saying, Toru?" Kiriya continued, "Had you delivered Aoi's body to the Ministry of Environment as they had asked, it could almost certainly have gotten us killed hunting something so powerful."

"So what are you saying, we just let that bastard go?!" Toru shouted, his composure slowly slipping away from him.

"NO!" Kiriya stood, slamming his own hands down on the desk, bringing his bespectacled face as close to Toru as possible. "Do you think you're the only one that wants revenge for Aoi?!" Kiriya seethed. "While you've been nursing your pride, the rest of us have been working to ensure we're prepared, to make sure that YOU don't run off and get yourself killed hunting something you can't handle!"

Toru was taken aback by Kiriya's outburst, and hung his head trying to force down his own simmering emotions.

Kiriya straightened and walked over to the other side of the room, away from Toru and Mami.

"We've come up with a plan," Kiriya started to recount, his voice regaining its usual serene quality, "I believe it will help us to perform on a level with the Ministry of Environment, and any Category A we might come across."

Toru turned to face his commander, who was now looking out of his office window, into the courtyard of the MoD building.

"I'll do anything. Anything to make sure Aoi's death doesn't go unanswered." Toru replied.

Kiriya turned his head to grin knowingly at Toru. "I know you would. That's why the preparations have already been made." Kiriya turned and nodded to Mami, who left the room at a brisk pace. "Masaki is waiting for us in the lower basement, and so we'll begin immediately."

As they left the room, further down the corridor Mami was talking fluidly with Natsuki, who was carrying her helmet under one arm. The two of them seemed to have become quite friendly very quickly, and it made Toru glad to see Natsuki was finally warming up to her team mates.

Kiriya led Toru in the opposite direction toward an elevator, it was an old, small elevator, the kind that squeaked and scraped worryingly as it moved. Once inside, Kiriya produced a key from his pocket, and inserted it into the lowermost recess of the elevator's control panel.

Toru was reminded a little nostalgically of Aoi's surprising possession of the keys to their old school building, he found himself smiling at the memory now rather than instantly remembering the torture of her death shortly thereafter. He shook his head as the elevator doors creaked together, and made a conscious effort to quash the memory before it led him down a path he didn't want to tread.

The elevator squeaked onwards, further and further down, Toru was beginning to wonder exactly how deep the the complex ran or if the elevator was moving deceptively slow. He had always preferred to use the staircase, something he had a little more personal control over.

His thoughts were interrupted as the metal box shuddered to a halt, and the doors creaked back open. Toru had expected to be greeted by a dark room, with barely acceptable lighting conditions, which had always been Masaki's preferred working environment. It was unexpected then, when the walls were alive with a tremendous amount of dancing blue light, as if it were being refracted through a pool of slowly churning water.

"Yo!" Masaki said cheerfully from a little ways inside the room, standing from a bench filled with tools and charts detailing mantra and scripture, and the effects the different types of wards had on spirits.

"You're just in time," he said picking up a slim metal bracelet from his workbench and waving it at the two of them, "we're good to go, Chief."

"What is this?" Toru asked walking inside the sub level, eager to find out what was causing the kaleidoscope of light on the wall.

"This is the future of Tokusen Four." Kiriya grinned with pride, and followed Toru toward Masaki's workbench.

Toru stopped suddenly as he reached the edge of a wall blocking the interior of the room from the view of the elevator, his mouth agape at what he was witnessing.

"Chief!" Toru gasped in utter amazement, and a slight quiver of fear.

"Ah," Kiriya began looking the area up and down, "This is-"

-

"Seiryuu!" Toru exclaimed closing his fist over the red light from his palm as if to grasp it.

The Category C and the Kasha visibly shrank back as they felt the change surge through the air around the expressway.

A thousand tiny droplets of water formed in the air around Toru, each of them shining with an inner blue light. More droplets materialized and were plucked from the air, all of them rushing to fill a single space at Toru's side.

The column of water grew steadily, five feet, ten feet, fifteen feet, and rapidly onwards creating shining blue column of water that twisted and coiled like a serpent at Toru's side. The water gradually took shape, the tail end of the column thinning, a long row of ridges forming along its back, four three pronged claws elongating themselves from the under side of either end of the column, and finally the monstrous shape of a dragon's head crowned by two horns that resembled the branches of bare winter trees, and sporting a pair of long whiskers that trailed from just below the tips of its nostrils.

The serpentine, water dragon swirled a few times in the air, before its body slowly began to harden the water transmuting itself to the texture and consistency of wood, and just as quickly the the wooden cocoon cracked and split, falling away to the dual carriageway below.

Left in its place, the scales and features of a perfect mythical dragon, shining blue scales, a green mane of hair, and a deep blood red underbelly. The enormous serpent was absolutely calm, its extremities billowing and flowing like the gentle rush of a river, waiting for its master's command.

Toru drew the second Walther from its holster at his back, and flicked the safety locks on both firearms to their released positions.

The Category C slowly began to inch their way toward the Ga-Rei Seiryuu and its new master, obviously nervous at the sight and intense aura of this unknown adversary.

"Go!" Toru shouted to the spirit waiting patiently at this side, which roared deafeningly in response, not at Toru but at the Kasha which was waiting on the other side of the wrecked collection of automobiles. The Kasha roared defiantly in response, but it had not even taken a single step before Seiryuu had advanced on it, coiling its massive body around the Kasha's head and sinking its teeth into the monster's brain cavity.

The Kasha bucked its head from side to side trying to throw the dragon off, side stepping and thrashing its body, unwittingly crushing the Category C that were unfortunate enough to be within reach of its massive feet.

Toru's twin Walthers were making short work of the Category C heading in his direction. The mani bullets, their potency enhanced dramatically by the emanations seeping into them from the Sesshouseki in Toru's palm, cut through the bodies of the Flaemis, disintegrating them in a single shot no matter where the bullets connected.

One of the Category C rushed at Toru, attempting to strike from his blind spot, but Toru felt it coming. He tossed the pistol in his right hand into the air and reached out toward the apparition with the Sesshouseki in his palm.

The Flaemis didn't even make contact, it ran into the area of effect created by the radiation of the stone and shattered, scattering pieces of itself along the expressway. Toru caught the falling pistol, and resumed shooting at another group of of apparitions approaching from his front.

The Kasha howled one final time as Seiryuu finally crushed its neck between its coiled body. The Kasha staggered and fell to its belly, dead and without having taken so much as a step toward the tasty human destroying the Category C that had led it here. Seiryuu roared triumphantly and twisted into the air, then darted down to the rear group of Category C, scooping a group of them up in its massive maw. Steam rose from the dragon's mouth as it devoured the monsters inside, swallowing them completely.

The last of the Category C found themselves either blown apart by Toru's dazzling display of marksmanship, or torn into chunks and eaten by the ravenous Ga-Rei Seiryuu.

Kiriya watched the entire battle from the office of the fourth division's mobile command centre. The perspective being shown from a camera mounted onto the circling Osprey.

"Hahaha! Magnificent! Absolutely magnificent!" He crowed, and applauded the battle alone while Mami watched quietly from his side, a look of utter amazement etched onto her face.

As the final Category C was crunched between Seiryuu's demonic jaws, the Osprey levelled its flight path and began its descent to the highway below. Seiryuu coiled itself up and drifted over to Toru, satisfied by its work and pleased with the contents of its belly.

Toru marvelled at the beast that bowed its head to him, almost as if it were thankful to feast on the other spirits. The Seiryuu reared its head up high one final time, and dissipated back into water droplets which drifted on the night air and finally disappeared out of reach, as if the magnificent serpent had never been there at all.

The rear doors of the Osprey clanked open as it landed, Natsuki and Masaki rushing out to meet their team mate, who was still standing a little stunned at what he had just done.

"Toru, that was incredible! That was totally incredible!" Masaki gawked, as he surveyed the disintegrating pieces of the last Category C, and the slowly fading body of the giant Kasha.

"Toru!" Natsuki called to him, her face too lit up in elation.

Toru turned slowly to face the two of them, the look on his own face a little confused. "Na...tsuki..." He managed to get out before his legs buckled underneath him and he collapsed to the tarmac.

Natsuki rushed forward to catch his body before it hit the concrete, he was a little heavy but she was strong enough to keep him up. Her expression instantly changed to the same look of confusion and fear, she placed her hand on his forehead and her eyes widened in shock. "He's burning up! Masaki!"

Masaki was confused as to why, he hadn't anticipated anything like this happening. He looked at the bracelet on Toru's right wrist, and while it had stopped producing smoke, the scripture was now glowing white hot. Masaki reached out to touch it, and withdrew his finger instantly when he felt it burn the tips of his fingers.

"We need to get him back right now." Masaki threw Toru's arm over his shoulder, and he winced in pain as the white hot bracelet made contact with his mid section.

Natsuki helped him lift Toru to his feet, and the two of them hurriedly moved him inside the Osprey.


	9. Chapter 9

"It's broken." Masaki declared, shrugging his shoulders in front of a close up image of the Sesshouseki, projected on the screen in Kiriya's office.

Kiriya frowned at Masaki and crossed his arms impatiently. "What do you mean, it's broken?"

"That's exactly what I mean." Masaki said, pointing to the image. "It's not easy to see, but the stone has already started to fracture in several places."

"Any idea why?" Kudou asked, though he was still not particularly happy about using the stone at all.

"Ah... It's my fault." Masaki scratched the back of his head, and bowed slightly in apology. "I made the regulation bracelet a little _too_ well."

Kiriya said nothing and waited for Masaki to elaborate on what he meant.

Masaki coughed, pretending to clear his throat and continued. "I didn't want anything bad to happen to Toru, so I made it completely repel any Miasma it tried to force into his body. The result was... well... I didn't expect it."

He looked at the image of the stone and scratched his head again, forming the explanation in his mind before he spoke it out loud. "The stone outputs a stream of Miasma designed to corrupt the body and slowly transmute it into a spiritual body. By turning the Miasma back toward the stone, while still allowing the power to flow freely through the bracelet, I thought there would be zero damage to Toru while still allowing it to operate at full power... but.."

Kiriya nodded, he began to see where Masaki was going with this explanation, but allowed him to continue regardless.

"The Miasma feeding back into the stone caused it to put out more power than it usually would, trying to force out enough Miasma to successfully corrupt Toru's body... But the more Miasma it put out the more was redirected back into it, causing the power output to magnify exponentially until eventually..."

"It overheated." Kudou finished with a surprisingly astute, yet simple assessment.

"Bingo!" Masaki pointed at him while winking, causing Kudou to drop his head into his palm in exasperation.

"Can it be fixed?" Kiriya asked.

"No." Masaki frowned, looking a little disappointed in himself, "While it's stopped putting out power now that he's resting... Even if we removed the bracelet... Considering the level of the spirit Toru has contracted with... We're only going to get one more use out of this thing before it shatters under its own force. And there's no telling what will happen to Toru when that occurs."

Kudou cut in immediately, before Kiriya had the chance to make up his mind either way. "It should be his choice if we use it again or not! If he says no then it should be cut out of him and locked up in the basement where nothing can ever get to it again."

Kiriya nodded, he didn't like the way he trampled on his authority, but Kudou was right. Kiriya however, was not going to let this chance slip out from between his fingers so easily. He knew exactly what he needed to do to convince Toru to use it one last time.

-

Natsuki slept soundly by the side of Toru's bed, the two of them cooped up in one of the crash pads usually occupied by the clerks who often worked so much they didn't have the time to go home. The side of her head was resting lightly in her folded arms, and her long black hair draped partially over the bed sheets. It seemed that the activity of the last few days had left even her a little worn out.

Toru was wide awake, the bustle of activity outside and in the hallways of the Ministry of Defence made it a little difficult to think about rest. He shifted his legs and got up from the untidy bed, looking down at Natsuki's sleeping face, reaching down to brush away the loose strands of hair that hung over her forehead, revealing clearly the lightly closed eyes and the gentle purse of her full lips. She was still as beautiful now as the first day they had met, perhaps even more so.

Looking at her lying so peacefully, Toru now felt like a fool for wishing his life away so recklessly. She had been there for him through everything, his quiet depression, the moments of rage when he wanted to do nothing but chase the shadow of the silver haired child across the city, and the times he pushed her away with the thought of Aoi's death still fresh in his mind.

She hadn't complained one single time, and she was still here at his side despite everything.

He couldn't bear it any longer, how long would she wait for him anyway? Why had he spent so much time being an idiot? If he hadn't been such an indecisive fool, he could have treated Natsuki better and Aoi would never have had to die.

The thoughts circled around his clouded head, all the while his fingers trembling at the touch of Natsuki's silken hair. His hand retracted suddenly as she stirred, a brief groan of contentment escaping from her lips. Her eyes blinked open and she raised her head to see Toru standing tall and looking back at her.

"Ah." She exclaimed softly, as she raised herself back to a sitting position, and then stood to meet Toru's face straight on, smiling slightly at his concerned looking eyes. "Sorry, I fell aslee-" She was cut off as Toru suddenly lunged forward and wrapped his arms around her, squeezing her tight, their bodies pressed almost obscenely close, the buckles and studs of their uniforms meshing together.

"T-Toru!" She blushed furiously, embarrassed at the sudden embrace, but did not have the will to break free.

"Natsuki, I can't go on like this any more." He whispered in her ear, locking his arms firmly into place around her back. "I want us to get away from all this, because I couldn't bear to lose you. I love you, I've loved you for so long but I've just... I've just..."

"T-Toru!!" Even though it was muffled into his chest, by the sound of the raising pitch of her voice she could have been blushing harder if that were possible.

Her arms shakily raised up to wrap themselves around Toru's waist. She had been waiting for this for so long, and she had begun to think that it would never happen, but out of the blue like this... she wasn't ready for it.

The unexpected aggressive force of his embrace pushed her back, until she was firmly stuck between him and the wall, but she managed to free her head from his chest long enough to get a good look at his eyes. They were so intense, like all the pent up feelings of a lifetime were pouring out into her. The energetic feeling those clear eyes exuded, made her own eyes dance with a strange anticipatory fear, it wasn't unpleasant at all, and the clashing feelings running through her heart made the moment exhilarating, and her chest heaved excitedly.

Her lips quivered and her eyes trembled as he came in close, the furious beating of her heart causing her breaths to come out in short, flustered gasps. The warmth of his resolve spread through her with a slight touch, and again as their lips brushed against one another, until neither one of them could stand it any longer, and they locked together in a vigorous, passionate exchange.

Toru took her by the arms and lay her down to the bed. Her heart was beating so hard, he could feel the blood coursing wildly through her body. The fear in her sparkling, mauve eyes belied the lack of resistance to his intentions.

He eased himself down to her and she shuddered ever so slightly as the heat of his breath teased the exposed skin at the base of her neck. Tightening her arms around him one final time, she eagerly pulled him in the rest of the way, so that their lips might meet again.

A light, cool breeze swept a curtain back and forth, on this night in their own personal nirvana.


	10. Chapter 10

"Agent One One and Agent Five Five in position. Barrier been has established." Kudou's voice still retained all of its imposing tone even through the tinny speaker in Mami's ear.

Mami stared seriously at the screen in front of her, this was to be her first operation with the unit, and possibly even her last. Kiriya stood by her side, his hands folded neatly behind his back, his eyes too fixed on the small screen at Mami's workstation inside the mobile command centre.

"Operations centre, acknowledged." Mami replied, pressing the headset against her ear to block out any ambient noise.

"This is Agent Five Five." Masaki's voice came through almost immediately after, still as chirpy and confident as ever, "Visual confirmation of the target confirmed. Within safety distance, Mami-cha~n!"

"Acknowledged." Mami did her best not to sound unprofessional in the face of Masaki's over-friendly attitude, at least she couldn't while her new employer was standing right beside her.

"Agent Three Three, and Agent Seven Seven, arriving at target location." Natsuki's voice sounded determinedly a short while after Masaki.

"Acknowledged." Mami responded, "And take care."

The fourth division's V-22 Osprey helicopter cut a clean figure above a sprawling forested area. The force of the whipping air produced by its rotors caused the branches below to quiver madly, shaking loose leaves and scattering wildlife. The Osprey's engines tilted into their landing position and the craft began descending into one of a pair of clearings near the centre of the forested area.

From the second clearing, the silver haired child known looked up from his inattentive state, the sun's glare shielded from his single visible eye by a cliff side that overlooked the clearing from some ways away. A single blue butterfly that had been resting on his finger took flight and disappeared leaving the boy alone to observe the machine that was landing nearby.

He didn't have to wait long to realize its intent. A single figure, still wearing his customary orange jumpsuit emerged from the line of trees separating the two clearings. In his hands the familiar silver and black pistols were held tightly, the pistol grip in his right hand backlit by the tell-tale blood red glow of the Sesshouseki.

The silver haired child propped his chin up on his index finger and smirked mischievously at the man who had stopped, dangerously close to his perch on the tree branch.

The child managed a slight chuckle and leaned forward to get a better look at his would-be opponent.

"Well, well..."

-

Reports were coming in from the first division that they had temporarily joined forces with the Ministry of Environment to tackle a Category A apparition, one that had formed from the half destroyed body of the countermeasure unit's own Isayama Yomi.

By all accounts the battle was not going well, the first division and countermeasure unit troops alike were falling one by one, with no hope in sight of putting down the threat.

"Chief, we need to go and help them, they're getting slaughtered out there!" Masaki protested at the fourth division's inaction thus far.

All the members of the fourth division were now together, it made the tiny space in Kiriya's office feel a little too cramped. Natsuki and Toru were sitting a little closer to each other than usual, and the usual air of tension between the two of them was nowhere to be seen.

"What extra do you believe we could contribute to the battle, Masaki?" Asked Kiriya.

"Surely with the Seiryuu we could-" Masaki stopped, turning his head to look at Toru, who was now eyeing the stone in the palm of his right hand.

"What do you think, Toru?" Asked Kiriya.

Kudou let out a disgusted snort, and stared hard at his commander. Kiriya waved it off and focused his attention on Toru who was now considering the question.

"Only one more use?" Toru asked, making a fist around the stone.

Kiriya nodded, "Then you'll be free of it forever. But, there's something else I'd like to do with it, if you'll hear me out."

"Our comrades are dying out there and you have '_other plans_'?!" Kudou blurted out suddenly, leaning forward as if he were going to get out of his chair and beat his commander half to death for abandoning the first division.

"The Ministry of Environment is more than capable of taking down one Category A." Kiriya reminded him, "What I propose, is taking action to ensure that the artificial creation of the Category A ceases."

Toru's ears perked up at Kiriya's words and he almost stood in anticipation of the continued proposal.

Mami turned on the screen behind Kiriya's desk again, bringing up a picture of the silver haired child whose image they had captured via satellite just a few days earlier.

"Mitogawa Kazuhiro." Kiriya began, "This, we believe, is the apparition responsible for the recent marked increase in supernatural activity, as well as the forced creation of Category A. And..." He looked at Kudou harshly, "The one responsible for Aoi's death."

Kudou sank back in his chair a little, not wanting to further challenge Kiriya on the matter.

"I'll do it." Toru said without hesitation.

Natsuki looked at him, concern growing on her face. Toru turned to her in kind with a reassuring stare, and she nodded at him.

"Wait..." Masaki interrupted. "What about the stone? If that fails in the middle of the battle, Toru won't stand a chance against a Category A like that."

Kiriya shook his head at Masaki. "I've already accounted for that possibility." He looked at each member of his team in turn, smiling wickedly and confidently at each one of them. "Of course... Preparations will have to be made."

-

"If it isn't the soldier-dono that had broken into my old school." Mitogawa exclaimed with honest surprise, kicking his legs back and forth on the tree branch.

"Seiryuu!" Toru exclaimed, not wishing in the slightest to indulge Mitogawa in any kind of conversation. The great blue dragon coming into existence at his side in a matter of seconds. The gold glowing scripture on the bracelet attached to Toru's wrist became hot instantly, and the pain seared up his right arm. His eyes twitched briefly from the pain, but he didn't dare show it, he kept his eyes focused on Mitogawa the entire time.

"Oh?" Mitogawa cocked his head to the side, disappointed at Toru's unwillingness to engage him in a brief conversation. "Though I'm glad you've made good use of the gift I gave your girlfriend." Mitogawa grinned, his single golden eye piercing coldly.

Mitogawa hopped down from the branch and began walking toward Toru and the enormous dragon writhing hungrily at his side.

"I don't normally like to bother myself with the weak." Mitogawa grinned, a steady stream of blue butterflies now emerging from behind his back and forming together in a swarm around his body. "But why don't I indulge you for a little while?"

The blue swarm darted forward in a point toward Toru and the Ga-Rei Seiryuu, the serpentine dragon coiled itself and threw its body into the swarm, dispersing the creatures harmlessly and flattening a few of them.

Toru darted to the side, his legs carrying him swiftly by the swarm of butterflies battering themselves against Seiryuu's scaled hide. Toru raised the twin walthers with deadly professional accuracy, and let off four shots. The enhanced mani bullets tore through the shield of blue butterflies and impacted into Mitogawa's small frame, knocking him back a little much to his surprise.

With a sweep of his arm, and a madly entertained expression on his face, Mitogawa caused the glowing blue horde of insects to ark away from Seiryuu and threaten to envelope Toru once again. The dragon matched the swarm move for move and once again placed its body in the path of the butterflies, shielding its master from.

Toru repeated the same move again, arcing around to the side and firing off another four shots at his intended target. The wall was strong this time, and the bullets shattered after they cut through several thick layers of blue wings.

This time however, the dragon reared its head and plunged down into the centre of the swarm, intending to devour Mitogawa whole. The child skipped back out of harms way, breaking through his own blue shield to escape from immediate danger.

Toru was waiting for him, and unloaded another round of shots into Mitogawa's back, this time with nothing to impede the severity of their impact.

Mitogawa span on the spot, unperturbed by the attack, another stream of butterflies piercing their way toward Toru. Seiryuu wasn't fast enough to reach them this time, and the swarm knocked Toru off his feet slashing a deep wound into the flesh of his right shoulder.

Mitogawa staggered from the pain of the eight bullets now burning inside his body, but the same elated grin was plastered across his face. "Too much... This is too much fun!"

Toru snarled at the boy, cradling the wound on his shoulder. As the dragon finally came between him and Mitogawa for a third time, Toru risked a glance at the bracelet on his right wrist. The scripture was again glowing white as the exponential increase of the Sesshouseki's power grew to excessive proportions.

Dead butterflies fell all around, like shining blue snowflakes on a cold winter morning. The clearing was now strewn with their corpses, the ground shimmering like a beautiful crystalline lake, but yet more of the black bodied insects kept on coming.

Toru quickly changed out the clips in his Walthers, doing his best to ignore the blood trickling from the wound on his shoulder. The harness straps on the right side of his uniform now hung off uselessly, but Toru kept an eye firmly on the area above Seiryuu's body as he inched around to the side looking for an opening.

Before he got there, exactly what he had expected to happen did. The swarm blew over the top of Seiryuu's body and swept down on him. Unexpectedly Mitogawa himself had leapt the body of the great dragon and was bearing down on Toru, his eye shining with sick anticipation.

Toru emptied both the new clips simultaneously as Mitogawa came barelling down. Some of the bullets impacting harmlessly on his blue shield, the others successfully piercing parts of his body.

Toru dodged backwards hoping to avoid the impact of the butterflies completely... But it wasn't enough.

The swarm, aiming to take off both of Toru's hands instead cut the pistols from the his grip as he moved backwards. Pieces of the lovingly cared for Walthers flew through the air and crashed unceremoniously to the ground.

As Toru backed further off, and Mitogawa again dodged to the side as Seiryuu's gigantic head came soaring down to devour him, it took Toru a little while to realize the pain in right arm was fading quickly, and the scripture on the bracelet was fading back to gold.

He looked at the palm of his right hand and saw that the stone was no longer there. He glanced back to where his Walthers had landed and saw it there, lying in two halves.

Mitogawa landed lightly in the spot where the weapons were, and stooped low to pick up the two pieces of Sesshouseki.

"That's too bad." He said, and he lifted his drooping hair to reveal his second eye, or at least an enormous red Sesshouseki that stood out from where his eye was supposed to be.

The two pieces of Toru's stone shuddered briefly, and were then absorbed by the the stone residing in Mitogawa's head.

Seiryuu's physical body was already beginning to waver. While Toru was still contracted to it, maintaining its body at this size wasn't possible without the aid of the stone's unnatural power.

"How long do you think you can hold that one together?" Mitogawa asked, fewer butterflies now rushing around his body as he mocked Toru's helplessness.

Toru backed off while he considered his options, and Mitogawa closed the gap between them by walking forward faster, grinning from ear to ear.

"Seiryuu!" Toru shouted, and the serpent dove in toward Mitogawa for one final attack. Mitogawa dodged the serpent's thrust with ease and continued his advance forward, he wasn't expecting it however when the dragon arced widely and surrounded him, its body quickly constricting and trapping him in place.

Toru didn't have the power left to crush the boy's body and the serpent's tail was already beginning to break down into tiny droplets of water.

"Struggle on to the end." Mitogawa goaded Toru, the serpents grip on him becoming looser by the second.

"Masaki!" Toru yelled out.

"Roger!" Came the response through the speaker plugged into his ear.

Mitogawa's face twisted in confusion, were there others? In all the excitement he hadn't even thought to check. Before he realized what was happening, a single red streak blinded him, literally, as a large calibre mani bullet penetrated his single functioning eye and tore out the other side of his head.

Mitogawa screamed in rage and excruciating pain as his world went black. Seiryuu's body now completely dissolved and Mitogawa dropped back to his feet, where staggered blindly trying to get his bearings. A second sniper shot sailed in struck Mitogawa squarely in the chest, tearing another gaping hole in his body.

The screech of rubber tyres against the ground deafened him, and he didn't know what to expect until he felt it hit him. Natsuki reared her motorcycle onto its back wheel, speeding forward and eventually dropping the front wheel on Mitogawa's sightless face. The wheel's three strips of scripture and the force of the rapidly rotating front wheel sheared the skin from Mitogawa's face. Natsuki veered off at the last second, knocking Mitogawa back several feet as he tried to comprehend what exactly had just happened to him.

"Toru! We're running!" Natsuki shouted out, and the bike screeched to a halt to allow Toru to get on. Toru threw his legs over the seat and gripped fast onto the chassis. The bike wailed again, the wheels spinning back up to carry them into the clearing where the Osprey was waiting.

A third large calibre sniper bullet streaked out toward Mitogawa, but this time it didn't reach its intended target. The thick wall of blue butterflies reasserted itself, allowing Mitogawa to pull himself to his feet.

"Damn you...! DAMN YOU!" He raged, the flesh inside his empty eye socket bubbled and split, forming itself into a new eye which rotated oddly before finally focusing in the direction that Natsuki and Toru had fled.

Mitogawa's head and chest were torn and grotesque from the unseen assault, and what remained of his face was contorted into an expression of absolute fury.

The first thing his new eye noticed was the Osprey lifting off from the second clearing. In full flight to retreat from him before he could retaliate.

"I WON'T LET YOU GET AWAY!" He raged, and the blue swarm carried him into the air after the fleeing helicopter.

Mitogawa impacted with the Osprey shaking it briefly off its axis. He hammered, pounded, and clawed at the rear access door, trying to get at the occupants inside. The door eventually gave way, and he tore a hole straight through it, and pulled himself inside.

"I'll kill you all-! ...!?" He was stunned to see that the craft was completely empty, the controls quite clearly being operated remotely. There was something there however, a large tank filled with water, lined from top to bottom by scores of mani bullets, and in the centre a curious floating black object.

Mitogawa's pupil dilated fully when he realized what it was, but by that time it was already too late. The Osprey exploded in a storm of fire, holy water, and mani bullets. Raining down fire, water, and pieces of helicopter on the clearing below.

On the cliff side where Masaki and Kudou had been positioned. Kudou flipped the cover of the remote detonator in his hand back down with a satisfying click. "Don't underestimate Tokusen Four, shitty brat!" He exclaimed.

Natsuki's bike barrelled up to the cliff side position, and came to a halt beside Kudou and Masaki, who was fawning over his performance with Toru's sniper rifle.

"Did you see that shot?! Did you SEE it?!" Masaki clenched his fists tightly, exceptionally proud of himself.

Toru and Natsuki smiled at him, and the four of them looked out over the cliff side to watch the last of the holy water's vapour dissipate into the air. It was over, finally.

"This is Agent One One," Kudou began to state, "Mission accomplished."

**Epilogue**

Toru stood over Aoi's grave, it was another calm night and it had been quite a while since he had been here. He dropped to one knee and lit the incense sticks with the lighter he carried around just for visiting this graveside.

"I'm sorry... For everything, Aoi." He said, even though was alone in the dark place. "I only hope that wherever you are now, you're able to forgive this foolish man."

Toru took a bracelet from his jacket pocket, the same bracelet he had used for the last time in his fight against Mitogawa, and placed it on the stone before him. Then stood back up to his full height and bowed his head.

After a short while of contemplation, Toru turned away from the grave and walked solemnly out of the cemetery. All around the streets were dark and quiet, only the sparse street lamps provided him with a safe path to follow.

As he walked along the concrete pathway, he considered everything that had happened after the last mission.

He had come so close to calling it quits with the Ministry of Defence, planning to find himself a quiet job where he wouldn't have to worry about losing his life from day to day.

But surprisingly, it had been Natsuki who had convinced him not to give it up. There were after all, people out there who couldn't protect themselves from the things that they couldn't understand, and it was only people like the fourth division who could make sure they got to rest at night without the fear of evil spirits consuming them while they slept.

It was his night off right now, but he knew that Kudou and Masaki were still at the Ministry of Defence, arguing with the brass to give them another Osprey after the one they had been given before mysteriously 'malfunctioned'.

Toru grinned at the thought, and couldn't help but wonder if Masaki was also motivated to be there because of Mami. He had taken a liking to her, that much was obvious to everyone, but thus far that relationship had yet to blossom in any capacity. That would come in time, Toru thought, or perhaps the fourth division might end up looking at it's first sexual harassment tribunal.

Kudou had resolved to spend less time at the ministry, snapping at Kiriya's heels every time he had a bizarre scheme to tackle an unusual spirit, and more time with his family. By now the team knew that the commander almost always ended up coming up with a solid plan regardless of Kudou's objections.

The commander himself was always something of a mystery, even now Kiriya kept himself mostly to himself, and the team really knew very little about him. That would have to change in the future, almost certainly.

Toru rounded a corner into a busier part of town, and found his way eventually to the alleyway behind the night club where Natsuki sang.

He leaned against a wall and played with the lighter a little bit, lighting his face up in the orange glow and enjoying the feeling of the scant warmth it offered.

The roar of a motorcycle's engine caught him unaware, and he tilted his head to see Natsuki pulling up into the alleyway. He walked over to greet her, and watched happily as she pulled off her helmet and shook loose her hair. A beautiful night for a beautiful girl.

Natsuki shivered in anticipation of his approach, and laid the helmet down on the front end of her bike.

"You're early." She said, letting him get as close possible before she spoke.

Toru reached out and tilted her chin up gently to gaze into her eyes. "I thought I'd help you set up this time."

She smiled and gazed back at him, both of them locked firmly in each others will. And the two of them embraced, sharing a sentimental kiss under a star filled sky.

-

Mitogawa looked up at the starlight filtering in through the trees, his body blackened and torn, unable to move, unable to blink, able only to stare upwards and wait. His flesh boiled and bubbled as it regenerated and pushed out the absurd number of mani bullets embedded in his body.

"Ah... It hurts..." He lamented, as he stared up at the filtered light. "But it was fun... Don't you think so... Yomi-dono?"

A woman in a kimono crept softly through the tall trees, a hollow thump from the padded feet of a great beast vibrated the ground in her wake. Her traditional black hair draped neatly over her body, and she stopped to look down at the pitiful form of Mitogawa's torn up body.

He smiled at her wickedly and stared into the violet jewels that dominated her face, with his single unblinking golden eye.

"Hey..." He said, "Let's have more fun soon."

_**-The End**_


End file.
